Robert Graham Gives State Auditor and Attorney General "The Finger"

On May 26, 2011 special agents with the State Auditor?s Office served a demand against Robert Graham, a member of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and former City of Jackson Police Department employee, for $45,736.05. The demand was for wages he received from the City of Jackson Police Department while conducting 9-1-1 dispatcher certification classes at the Jackson Police Academy. The courses were taught during regular work hours when Graham indicated on his City of Jackson timesheets that he had been at work. Since Graham charged a fee and kept the money, he was supposed to be off duty and not use a public facility such as a police academy to do so.

In October 2011, I came to Jackson from Washington, DC at my own expense to hold Robert Graham publically accountable for his actions through a televised news conference. Graham and his constituents claimed it was political since an election was just a few weeks later. This was in spite of the fact I had made my claim with the State 9-1-1 Board in 2006 and the Attorney General and State Auditor in 2007, several years earlier.

It all stemmed from a complaint I filed with the Mississippi State 9-1-1 Board that Graham had unlawfully used my company?s training manuals to teach state-reimbursed 9-1-1 certification courses. Unfortunately, he did this without my knowledge or purchasing the manuals. He simply reproduced copies of manuals which was not only a violation of the federal copyright law but a crime of theft by conversion. In another case, he ordered 25 manuals paid for by the City of Jackson Police Department and charged the 25 students from other 9-1-1 agencies around the state $495.00 each. Graham pocketed approximately $12,000. Not only did the City of Jackson Police Department pay for the manuals, but the State 9-1-1 Board reimbursed the agencies that paid Graham.

Almost a year after the demand by the State Auditor and Graham thumbing his nose at the citizens of Hinds County and City of Jackson, the State Auditor and Attorney General filed a suit on February 28, 2012.

Not only is he guilty of stealing from my company and fleecing the City of Jackson Police Department out of $45,736.05 in wages, he collected another approximately $50,000 he collected from the students who attended his ?bogus? classes. They, in turn, submitted statements for reimbursement to Mississippi State 9-1-1 Board which unknowingly reimbursed the approximately $50,000 to the 9-1-1 agencies that paid Graham.

To this day, even though I filed my initial complaint with the State 9-1-1 Board and Attorney General in 2006, and the State Auditor served Graham with a demand letter in 2001, and a suit was filed by the Attorney General in 2012, Robert Graham continues to thumb his nose at the citizens of Jackson, Hinds County, and the State of Mississippi that paid for his deception and thievery. Actually, he is giving you all, the State Auditor and the Attorney General ?the finger.? They don?t seem to mind.

If this is the best Mississippians can do, good luck ever getting out of the dark ages.

Charles D. Carter

Charles CarterPalm DesertUser submission

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Robert Graham Gives State Auditor and Attorney General "The Finger"

On May 26, 2011 special agents with the State Auditor?s Office served a demand against Robert Graham, a member of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors and former City of Jackson Police Department